Real salt versus table salt

In a fascinating book called Salt Deficiency: The Cause of All Serious Diseases, author Martin J. Lara describes the importance of unrefined salt in providing all the trace minerals the body needs. Lara contends that the result of trace mineral deficiencies is constipation because the body holds the fiber-rich waste in the colon so that it can ferment, a process that releases trace minerals the body needs. While fermentation is taking place, the body continues to remove water from the faeces, resulting in hard and impacted stools. Most textbooks now recognize that some fiber is broken down by fermentation in the colon.

Lara explains that when a person is deficient in minerals, particularly trace minerals, he does not retain enough of the liquids he drinks—instead of hydrating the body, water is quickly eliminated via the kidneys. This is another reason the body retains faeces in the bowel, in order to extract as much water as possible.

Lara describes a condition he calls partial constipation, which is often unrecognized because an individual with this condition may still have regular bowel movements. However, waste material can remain in the colon several days before it is eliminated, undergoing fermentation and compaction due to the removal of water. One sign of partial constipation is strong smelling urine, especially in the morning. Colonic irrigations can provide temporary relief from this condition, but they do not solve the problem.

A strong sphincter muscle (called the inner sphincter) separates the lower part of the colon (called the sigmoid colon) from the rectum. Under normal conditions, faeces pass through the rectum only during bowel movements. When the sigmoid colon enlarges after years of carrying large amounts of feces undergoing fermentation, the inner sphincter becomes weak due to the pressure and the faeces normally stored in the colon descend into the rectum, a condition that leads to autointoxication. The colon absorbs only water and and small compounds like mineral ions, but the rectum is very absorptive, which is why medicines work when given as suppositories. Furthermore, the blood that absorbs nutrients from the small and large intestines goes into the liver where toxins can be neutralized. However, since the rectum is not designed to store waste, the blood that leaves this organ does not go into the liver; thus toxins enter the blood stream and are carried to other organs, including the head, heart and lungs. Lara’s solution: always use unrefined sea salt on your food plus take 2 grams of sea salt in a mug of warm water every morning for complete and easy elimination.